Jessie's story
When Jessie’s Mum collapsed at home, we worked with the paramedics to try to revive her. Sadly, Jessie’s Mum couldn’t be saved, but we were still able to support the family as they came to terms with their loss and learned to live with their grief.
Unfortunately, not all our patient stories have a happy ending. Jessie’s Mum collapsed at home and even with prompt medical attention she sadly passed away. Jessie tells us how EAAA were able to help at this difficult time.
“My mum loved her family – she was so supportive of her children and was even by my side when I gave birth to my daughter. She was proud of us all and loved going on holidays with her kids or getting us all over for Christmas. Her living room was like a Santa’s grotto! She was so friendly and chatty – people would say she’d make friends with a mannequin! She also loved to play bingo.
Back in November 2019, I took my daughter over to see my parents. We spent the morning with them. During our visit, Mum said she didn’t feel well, and we thought it was probably her blood pressure. I offered to take her to the doctor, but Mum was very stubborn and said she’d be fine. We agreed if she still felt unwell the next day, we’d go.”
“Just a few minutes after my daughter and I left my parents’ house, Dad called. He said he couldn’t wake Mum up. I raced back to the house and found Mum lying face down on the floor. Dad said she had been struggling to breathe and then she had collapsed. I rang 999 straight away. I rolled Mum over, and her lips and face were blue. The call handler talked me through giving her CPR and counted compressions with me until the paramedics arrived. Shortly after, EAAA arrived too.
By this time, my older sister had come over and she took my daughter outside because they were both very upset. I told them Mum would be okay, as she had recovered some of her colour while I was giving her CPR.”
“The crew worked on Mum tirelessly. They explained to me that she wasn’t responding, but they weren’t willing to give up and they were going to give her another round to pull through. I watched them work on her, quietly begging her to wake up, move her fingers or show some sign of life. Unfortunately, she still didn’t respond, and they had no choice but to let her go. At that point I lost all my strength, and I screamed out and my sister and daughter heard me. I didn’t want to upset them more, so I pulled myself together, and my sister, Dad and I sat with Mum while the paramedics turned the machines off and took my daughter to play in the garden, giving us some privacy.
All credit to the crew – they were incredibly professional and acted sensitively the whole time. They helped me explain to my daughter that her Nanny was now in the sky, and she still waves to the sky every evening to say goodnight!”
“I was so grateful to EAAA that I wanted to do some fundraising. I arranged an Easter Bingo event, but due to the lockdowns, it couldn’t go ahead. Instead, we sent the Easter eggs to the crew along with handwritten notes to the people who had attended Mum. One of them sent me a card in response and I still have it to this day!
EAAA put me in touch with their Aftercare team and I met up with Aftercare Liaison Officer, Lisa. She came to my house and spent an afternoon talking with me about what had happened, reassuring me that I couldn’t have done anything differently that day. I’d been carrying a lot of guilt and feeling that I’d failed Mum, but thanks to Lisa, I’ve been able to let the guilt go. I know I did everything I could, as did the crew, and I’m so thankful to all the team for their kindness and compassion.”
